Hadleigh 24 | 28 Colchester A XV

The 3rd XV opened their campaign in Eastern Counties 1 (South) away to Hadleigh on Saturday in what could possibly be described as the most challenging start to the league you could ask for. And from the first whistle, the tone was set for an exhilarating match of rugby.

Hadleigh kicked off to Colchester, who, playing in their traditional black, received and went through a handful of phases before exiting their own third into the waiting hands of the Hadleigh back line. From their, the home side attacked down the right, managing to cut through the onrushing defence to score the first points of the match after only 60 seconds. Shell shocked from the defensive lapse, Colchester could have dropped their heads – this was not to be however as the team rallied to produce 39 minutes of high quality rugby.

From the restart, Colchester put Hadleigh under pressure, forcing a penalty that centre James Pearce slotted to register the visitors first points of the season. From the ensuing kick off, Colchester again squeezed the Hadleigh resolve to win a further penalty, which Peace again took superbly. 8 minutes gone and Colchester now had a lead of 5-6. Keeping Hadleigh pinned in their own half, the blacks maintained the pressure and eventually force a further penalty; instead of kicking for points however, Colchester went for repeated lineouts down the left, with lock Sam Harman scoring the visitors second try. 5-13 to Colchester after 15 minutes. The next 15 was played out furiously between the sides, typified by the heavyweight clash between both number 12’s in Colchester’s Jake Harvey, and the home sides South African Shawn Janse Van Rensberg. And it was Hadleigh who drew blood next, scoring their second try to bring it back to 12-13. However, Colchester produced an excellent finish to the half by scoring two more of their own – the classy Pearce scoring one on the right off of some good phase play, and prop Jack Buxton dotting down on the stoke of half time; Colchester headed into the break with a healthy 12-25 lead.

Where the first half mostly belonged to Colchester, the second stanza was predominantly Hadleigh’s who showed true class to drag themselves back into the match with two well taken tries in the first 10 minutes; 24-25 and the game was anyone’s for the taking. Hadleigh threw everything at the visitors, their big ball carriers crashing into a black wall for the majority of the second half. Colchester however were up to the task and met wave after wave of Hadleigh attack with smart alignment and concrete shoulders. On the hour mark, Colchester won a penalty on the left which fullback Ben Connor slotted with aplomb. The score now 24-28 and Hadleigh needed a try to snatch victory. And win they almost did, camping in the Colchester third for much of the remaining 20 minutes. However, Colchester stuck to the task and defended stoutly until the end, eventually forcing a mistake to end the match with 4-point advantage. Both teams were utterly shattered at the end, and neither deserved to be on the losing side such was the closeness of the game.